Inset: Latoya Gaines (Bay County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The exterior area near the Florida daycare where authorities say Gaines struck a 10-year-old girl during an argument over bathroom access (Google Map).
A Panama City, Florida, mother has been placed on probation after authorities said she punched a 10-year-old girl in the face during a daycare dispute that began over a bathroom.
Latoya Gaines, 48, entered a no contest plea on July 17 to a child abuse charge and received a 24-month probation sentence, according to court records reviewed by Law&Crime.
As part of the sentence, a Bay County judge directed Gaines to complete 100 hours of public service work and participate in counseling for drug, alcohol and mental health issues.
The case stemmed from an April 24 incident at a Bay County daycare, where Gaines had arrived to pick up her 5-year-old daughter and another child. According to the arrest affidavit, she became involved in a confrontation with the 10-year-old over the use of a single-person restroom.
Investigators said Gaines demanded that the girl come out of the restroom so she could use it with her child.
The child allegedly told Gaines to wait her turn, and the disagreement quickly intensified, the affidavit stated.
Police said Gaines then deliberately hit the girl in the face with a closed fist, leaving visible bruising around the child’s eye. Afterward, authorities said, Gaines walked away from the daycare area with her two daughters.
Witnesses who were at the daycare “corroborated the reported incident” after the victim’s mother came forward to report it.
Police went to Gaines’ residence to try to make contact with her but she was not home. Officers reached Gaines by phone and she admitted to being involved in the “altercation inside the daycare,” per the affidavit.
“[The victim’s mother] advised she wished to pursue charges,” the document said.
A Facebook account with the name Latoya Gaines, from Panama City, wrote on April 29 that Gaines was innocent and being falsely accused.
“Everyone in this lil city where everyone knows everyone buisness [sic]….Did anyone stop & think about what was said & thought this is not the Latoya Gaines I know,” the account wrote in all caps. “Because if you know me you would know without a doubt I did not do this…. I’m sure their [sic] are some people that are gonna say negative stuff cause that’s what sone [sic] people would think but like I’ve I said if you know me then you would say to yourself this is not true It’s a bold face Lie.”
Court records show that Gaines began her probation on July 21.
The post Parent who socked little girl in the face when she told the mom to ‘wait her turn’ for bathroom after she ‘demanded’ that the kid get out so her own daughter could use it gets probation first appeared on Law & Crime.
